Disclaimer:Seriously. Don't be stupid by even asking.

Ok well this is the last chapter to the story! and I'm sorry it's taken so long to get to this point, but i'm lazy, and I have many college essays to finish...so expect many more chapters for my other stories as I try to avoid homework in the coming weeks lol. (Oh yeah - Apologises for the crappy chapter title, they aren't my strong point).

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Back To The Beginning

Cat pulled Starbug to a complete stop then looked at the others, Brina was at Kryten's station, setting up the blocker to stop them being scanned whilst Demi and Arnold finished the repairs.

"Ready?" He asked, gaining a nod from Arnold as he clipped the panel back into place.

"Yep daddy." Demi answered as she stepped over and gave him a hug.

"Good…Babe?"

"Just…about…done!" Brina said sigh a sigh and a grin as she keyed in the last of the commands and hit enter.

Cat ran a hand through his hair and mentally prepared himself. "Arnold, start the drive and everyone hold on." He said as confidently as he could as Arnold hit the start button of the once 'Holly Hop Drive' that had been built into the side of his station.

Suddenly Cat was manoeuvring his way through a wormhole type blur of time that reminded him a bit of some crappy old movie Lister had got him to see once called 'Trip To Oz' where a girl took some magic mushrooms and then her shuttle had being caught up by a black hole and sent to a place populated by cabaret midgets in a city called Oz…Or 'Trip Out City' as Lister had put it.

Then just as suddenly as the tunnel had appeared, it had gone, everything was calm and they seemed to be just floating in normal space. Cat held his position for a while, feeling tense and unsure.

"Are we there?" Demi asked nervously to the equally nervous adults.

"Looks like." Arnold replied as he checked his monitor readouts.

"How long have we got?" Brina asked, as she let out a breath she had unconsciously being holding.

"Not long, Simulant ship has just entered our long distance scanners, but ours are much more upgraded than they were…Before…" Arnold trailed off feeling more than a tad awkward.

"Got it." Cat mumbled as he plotted a course towards the stimulant ship. Strangely he felt scared – When it came to the crunch he'd always expected it to be anger at what this ship and it's crew had done, but it seemed to be more fear of what could happen now… He looked over at Arnold, but he didn't make eye contact, instead turning back to study his monitor readouts. Cat sighed and hit a button on his console…

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Cat ran a hand through his hair then yawned idly, he started to scan his perfect nails but then a bleeping noise coming from Rimmer's station distracted him.

He moved over and began scanning the monitor readouts.

"What's up?" Lister asked as he took a swig of beer and looked up from his World War 2 history comic.

Cat frowned and sat back in his chair. "Nothing bud – Looked like some kind of power surge but it's gone now…Probably that star we past a bit ago imploding."

Lister nodded and turned his attention back to his comic, suddenly laughing at something and knocking some of his beer onto his already grubby top.

Cat rolled his eyes at Lister's clumsiness and general grossness, then looked round as he sensed a very moody Rimmer walk in and sit in his chair.

Cat wondered absently what was wrong with him now, but no doubt Lister and Rimmer would have an argument and he'd find out that way – No point wasting breath talking to Rimmer when he didn't especially care much anyway.

"What's eating you? You've got a face on you that couldn't be worse than if you'd just found out I'd flushed your James Last CD collection into space." Lister observed turning round to be met by a glare and a flare of nostrils as he tried to dry the spilt beer with his sleeve.

"You HAVE flushed my James Last CD's into space you cretionus pile of faeces that barely counts of being human" Rimmer spat, glaring at Cat who had a small smile beginning to play on his lips.

Rimmer scoffed angrily as Lister tried to say it was an accident and folded his arms sulkily. "I ask you Lister how it is impossible to put all my James Last CD's into the…" He trailed off as Cat suddenly stood up and looked around alertly.

"What's the matter with you?" He snapped, annoyed to have his track of insults distracted.

Cat sighed and sat down again. "Nothing…I just thought I sensed…Feline." Cat muttered, gaining eyebrow raised looks from Lister and Rimmer.

"You mean besides yourself?" Rimmer asked with a taunting smile.

"Of course besides me! I'm not that dumb Nostril Arches!" Cat retorted crossly.

"Anyone wanna make bets on that point?" Rimmer replied, but before Cat could answer him, a worried looking Kryten came dashing into the cockpit.

"Sirs! I'm afraid I have terrible news to report… Oh I can't even SAY it!" He moaned, quickly getting everyone's attention.

"What is it? – It's not the poppadoms?" Lister asked, panic rising in his voice.

"No sirs – Even worse! Frank has gone on strike!"

"Frank?" Rimmer and Lister asked incredulously and highly confused. But Cat's attention was elsewhere as he sniffed the air again.

"Guys." He said before Kryten had a chance to explain. "I'm picking something up, and it's coming our way." The others looked at his half scared and half puzzled look with slight scepticism but Rimmer checked the radar then gulped.

"Hey he's right – I'm picking up two vessels on the edge of the radar…One looks like a simulant ship – heavily upgraded." Rimmer told the others, having an inside panic attack.

"Oh smeg…What about the other ship?" Lister asked as he turned to he sat down again and knocked his just about empty can of larger onto the floor. It landed with a resounding hollow crash making everyone flinch and Cat jump as if he'd been shot.

"I don't know, there's some kind of block – I can't scan it, and it's too far away for a visual…it's attacking the simulant ship though, could provide us with enough time to escape." Rimmer relayed nervously.

"Should we help?" Lister asked.

"I wouldn't recommend it sirs. From what I can gather, both ships have taken damage but it wouldn't be wise to investigate, for all we know both are simulant and they could gladly put aside their differences to attack us." Kryten reasoned calmly as Cat nodded hesitantly and set Starbug on a retreating course back to a nearby asteroid belt.

After a minute or so Rimmer looked up from his monitors. "Long range scanners detect an explosion from the sector of the simulant and unknown ship's location."

"Who won?" Lister asked as Cat pulled Starbug to a halt in the asteroid belt.

"Who cares? – You got rid of all my Reggie Wilson CDs!" Rimmer retorted causing Lister to groan loudly.

"Not this again!" He moaned as Cat rolled his eyes and tuned out of yet another squabble – Yep, things were boring when people weren't trying to blow them to bits…

The End